Soapmakers cookbook

[Body_Basics]

I have been searching the net for soap making recipes and even though there is a lot of info out their on the net the problem is there is to much info. I wish i could find a good book. Then I though why not create one? I know there are books out there but the ones I find are not that great and most are over priced.

I go to school and have use of a printing press, all I need now is content. I do not plan on selling these but if content providers would like to I guess we could. But even then it wont be that much. Probably enough to cover cost if any, We never have to pay for materials at school but doing something like this i might have to buy my own paper. So if we decide to sell I don't want the markup to be much because I want it to be something Jan and Joe could easily get if they wanted to start making soaps.

What I would like is for each person wanting to be a part of this to submit at least 3 of their best creations. Please include High res pics and step by step instructions on how to make. You can also include links to your websites and other contact info if readers want to purchase your soaps.

I hope I get a good response on this. In this thread simply respond with your intrest in helping out and also post any questions or comments. I will setup a dropbox for you to upload your submissions.

All content providers will get a free copy of the book and whatever profits earned will be split evenly.

 

[Lindy]

Usually people who write books actually have the knowledge to back up what they are writing. I find it a little surprising that you are on, what your first batch and you feel you are capable of writing such a book? If you do not wish to spend the money on a book then perhaps look at borrowing it from the library. I must say I find this idea of yours rather offensive.

 

[judymoody]

Alicia Grosso's Everything Soapmaking Book has just been updated and is in its third edition. It costs 12 bucks and change from Amazon. It's comprehensive and up to date and the price is modest. It would be pretty hard to compete with the content and the price point, especially if one is relatively new to soapmaking.

The kind of content you're suggesting could be easily handled on a blog or website. There are many good ones out there you may not have found as yet. Amanda Griffin's lovinsoap and Brambleberry's teach soap and soap queen are all excellent. For photos, soapbar.blogspot.com has some gorgeous content.

 

[melstan775]

You go to school and use of a printing press. I'm guessing you're in the English department. Because not everyone has use of a school's press. Is this for a project? I'm in agreement with the above posters that this could be handled on a blog or web site, or that there are books available. It's a bit offensive to say that a market-specific books are overpriced and underinformative. People don't get to publish books by being underinformed; nonfiction books are hard to get published and are generally publishing contracts are offered to proven experts. If you have the money to set up a shop, you have a hundred bucks to buy a few books, and hey you can even charge that as a business expense. A cooperatively published book is a big deal and a big expense, hence why I think you're using it as a project. I think you have great passion based on your posts, but I think wanting to go all out right out the gate is a bit much. You need to check yourself and learn more about this before you try to make yourself the expert.

 

[Body_Basics]

Im replying via phone so pardon the errors. Ok first I have made soap before, melt and pour. I have never done cold press. Thats why I said I wanted to find content providers who have more experience. Second thing I wanted to reply to was this. I know there are tons of recipes on line, there are tons on this sight alone. Does that mean I cant have the option of wanting them in a book form? Third thing saying its disrespectful to say the book out now or to high is silly. If I think they are to high thats just me, thats how I feel. Also I have read alot of the soapers book and most were not what I wanted. So hat better way to get what you want than try to create it your self. And for as being able to compete with price, I am really not trying to sell it. I said if majority of the content provders wanted to go that route I would. and for as competing with price. It wont cost me nothing to do, if There is a cost it will only be paper
. So tell me how am unable to compete with that price of the Amzon book?

My post may be all over the place because I tried to address a lot of replies. The mainreason I want to do the book is because I think it would be fun and because I have the means to do it. Ist that the reason you make soap, because you can? Im sure there is somebody making the type of soap you like and it woud save you a lot of time and money if you just bought theirs instead of making your own.

 

[Genny]

I hope you don't take offense to this but I don't think that most soapers that have been working very hard and investing a lot of their money & and time into creating some of their best soaps will hand over the recipes. Our recipes that we create, tweak, test on dozens of people, some work years & years perfecting are apart of us and what makes each soaper's creations unique.
Many of us get asked regularly for our recipes, so it does get a little old & tiring, so you are going to get a lot of emotional responses to this kind of request.
I know a lot of new soapers don't understand the big deal about recipe sharing and have even seen lots of them say so, but after a year or so of working on their own recipes, they usually change their tune.

Also, if someone gives you a recipe that has incorrect info or they made a mistake with one little number and someone else gets hurt by using that info, you would be held responsible. Do you know enough about soap making that you would be able to catch the mistakes?

 

[judymoody]

I wish i could find a good book. Then I though why not create one? I know there are books out there but the ones I find are not that great and most are over priced.

The reason I commented about price was that you asserted that books currently on the market are poor quality and overpriced.

I appreciate your enthusiasm but given that you have never made CP soap (it's cold process by the way, not cold press), how could you possibly know whether or not available soapmaking books are good or not?

I have read most of the books out there and many have problems and/or are outdated. Some are not that attractive in their presentation. But a few, like the one I mentioned are quite sound.

The idea of an arty, small-run soap book printed on a printing press is an attractive one. Just not now. It might be worth revisiting after you have a few years' of intensive experience under your belt. Although I'd not underestimate your labor costs in setting up such a project. It's definitely more costly than the price of the paper.

 

[Body_Basics]

I hope you don't take offense to this but I don't think that most soapers that have been working very hard and investing a lot of their money & and time into creating some of their best soaps will hand over the recipes. Our recipes that we create, tweak, test on dozens of people, some work years & years perfecting are apart of us and what makes each soaper's creations unique.
Many of us get asked regularly for our recipes, so it does get a little old & tiring, so you are going to get a lot of emotional responses to this kind of request.
I know a lot of new soapers don't understand the big deal about recipe sharing and have even seen lots of them say so, but after a year or so of working on their own recipes, they usually change their tune.

Also, if someone gives you a recipe that has incorrect info or they made a mistake with one little number and someone else gets hurt by using that info, you would be held responsible. Do you know enough about soap making that you would be able to catch the mistakes?

I understand all of this and yet their is a section on here where folks share recipes, happily Plus the internet is full of folks wanting and willing to share. I would just like to get a bunch of recipes and put them in a book format There are still a few people like my self who prefer a book over a webpage or PDF file. For thoes that don't want to contribute they dont have to. This is just something I want to do, if I don't get any responses thats fine. Not taking any offense to something someone may post in reply to my threads and I hope none is taken.

For as catching mistakes and knowing enough, That is what disclaimers are for. Like I said I dont plan on selling this book. It will be free of charge so how am i responsible? There is a ton of false info on the net, you read and decide to use it at your own risk. Using Lye in general has a risk and soapmakers know there is a good chance of getting hurt if they dont know what they are doing. That's why i have not made a CP batch yet. Isn't one thing you do when finding or following any recipe is run it through a Lye calculator? Thats the first and last thing readers should rely on to catch an error.

 

[Body_Basics]

The reason I commented about price was that you asserted that books currently on the market are poor quality and overpriced.

I appreciate your enthusiasm but given that you have never made CP soap (it's cold process by the way, not cold press), how could you possibly know whether or not available soapmaking books are good or not?

I have read most of the books out there and many have problems and/or are outdated. Some are not that attractive in their presentation. But a few, like the one I mentioned are quite sound.

The idea of an arty, small-run soap book printed on a printing press is an attractive one. Just not now. It might be worth revisiting after you have a few years' of intensive experience under your belt. Although I'd not underestimate your labor costs in setting up such a project. It's definitely more costly than the price of the paper.

See you hit most of the points I was trying to make, The books I have seen are outdated and to me just from reading the books watching videos and reading blogs. I know that the books are not laid out the way I or newcomers would like to see them.

I will not submit any recipes, I am looking for submissions from soapmakers who have the years under their belt, (LOL WHY DOES EVERYONE MISS THAT PART?) I am simply the guy who has the means and will print the book. Im in school and instead of printing boring school class books i would like to do this.

 

[Lindy]

Here's the thing Body_Basics. Disclaimers don't hold up in court, as the author it is expected you have expertise. Look at cookbooks, the authors have usually made every single one of those recipes, they have the expertise to know if the recipe is any good or not, plus no-one is going to get hurt if the recipe is bad. With soap you really do have to know what the soap is going to do in 6 months. You are trusting that the recipes you receive are sound, that they will hold up over time. I realize you are wanting to take the role of editor, but even editors are expected to be knowledgeable and you're not. Not yet. Melt & Pour is a totally different beast and does not qualify you as a CP soapmaker.

Do you know how to determine if a recipe is going to be lye heavy? Do you know by looking at a recipe whether it is going to be subject to DOS? Putting a good book, the kind you would like to have, is going to be labour intensive. Here is a suggestion. Go ahead and start collecting those recipes, but take the time to test each and every one of them. That way you can actually know what each of them are going to do, how they will behave. I would recommend buying SoapMaker 3 (http://www.soapmaker.ca/?gclid=CIm7w8mz6LQCFYl7QgodTF8ASg) so you can track each recipe and there is a spot to make notes in each batch. By doing it this way you will actually learn a lot about being a soapmaker, then in a year or so you will be in a better position to actually put something like that together. It will still be a book written by someone with limited experience because becoming an expert takes years.

 

[Body_Basics]

Well thanks for your advise I think most are reading in to this to far. I just wanted to do this as a little project. Print like 50 books, Im not trying to put this in Barnes and Nobel. Just like some one can circulate a PDF file on soapmaking and not be held responsible neither can i for circulaiting a book. Maybe i should stop calling it a book and call it "PDFs from the web that you can now read on acutal paper"

 

[melstan775]

@Lindy - the type of collection Body_Basics is talking about is called an anthology. It's a collection of work by multiple authors compiled by an editor, in this case probably Body, and published by his University Press. I'm fairly sure this is an academic project because I minored in Engliah myself. Not every student has access to a schools printing press, usually only English and design studies students do. Other departments hand their work over for trained students to print.

Body I know you are passionate about your ideas, and the advice you are being given is well meant, even if it's not what you want to hear. These people are soapers, and therefore your audience. You have a free test group here and your group doesn't trust your authority. How do you think such a book will go over in the market if the first response is underwhelming? Part of being in business is knowing demands. And we live in a sue happy world. As the publisher and editor of a soap book you assume liability for the book's contents. Especially if you're not going to put it through peer review. An anology here is that you are not the DMV, you don't have the authority to register recipes or give would-be soap makers a license to soap. The liability is too great.

 

[AlchemyandAshes]

I understand the goal you are attempting to accomplish:
You are disappointed with the soap making books (or other info)you have come across and want to offer something more useful to new soapmakers by simply putting a book of soap recipes together, contributed by other soapmakers, and make it available for free (or a small charge).

I'm not a lawyer, so I can't speak to the liability issue of being the publisher/editor of such a book, but I can point out a well known soapmaking book that the publisher issued revisions due to safety issues, which leads me to believe that either there was a legal issue or they anticipated such:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00064HO7M/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

There are plenty "Compendiums" out there on various topics either on the web or in book format, such as cooking, herbs, soapmaking, etc. I can guarantee that the publisher or author of many cookbooks never cooked half of the recipes included, but instead relied on experts to do that for them. I'm assuming that's what you wish to accomplish by asking seasoned soapers to offer up their recipes. And yes, in general, it is up to the reader to decipher the facts from the inaccuracies and to use the information at their discretion. However, as pointed out previously, we live in a litigious society, and people want to point their finger and blame someone else for anything and everything, and expect to be compensated because of it.
I like what Lindy suggested: Accumulate the recipes, soap them yourself, take notes, learn all you can about Cold Process soapmaking, and THEN publish your compendium with input of your own, knowing that the recipes are indeed quality work.
Even if you were never sued because of the content, would you want your book to be viewed in the same light as you view some of the other soap books you referred to earlier? You don't want your name associated with subpar quality information. Besides, I wouldn't buy a "How-To" book from someone who didn't KNOW "How-To" themselves.

I think your enthusiasm is to be commended, but it just sounds like a "cart before the horse" situation. Keep asking questions and gaining knowledge, and actually soaping yourself, and you may not need to ask others for their recipes, and will be able to put a book together with your own knowledge and expertise!